Course curriculum

    1. Introduction to this course

    2. First things first, let's find out a little bit more about you!

    1. Introduction to Module 1

    2. Ultrasound generation and how images are formed

    3. Ultrasound transmission

    4. The importance of transducer and image orientation

    5. Which transducer/probe to use and why. The compromise between depth and image resolution

    6. How to use the depth and zoom controls and the benefits of getting it right

    7. The impact of overall gain (OG) and Time Gain Compensation (TGC) controls on your image

    8. How does adjusting the focus control affect your image?

    9. When and why you should utilise the Scan Range or Sector Angle (Field of view) control

    10. What is dynamic range and how does it help you?

    11. How to use the ultrasound machine controls to optimise the image

    12. The importance of image annotation

    13. How to make sure you measure structures correctly

    14. What you need to consider when evaluating structure with ultrasound

    15. The importance of following a systematic approach to an ultrasound scan

    16. Infection prevention and control and caring for your equipment

    17. The importance of presets and what you need to consider when choosing an ultrasound machine

    18. Module 1 - Checkpoint Quiz

    1. Introduction to Module 2

    2. How to prepare for an abdominal ultrasound survey

    3. How to assess the liver of the canine and feline patient

    4. How to assess the gallbladder of a canine and feline patient

    5. How to assess the biliary tract and main branch of the portal vein in a canine or feline patient

    6. GIT Part 1: How to assess the stomach of a canine or feline patient

    7. GIT Part 2: How to assess the small intestine of a canine or feline patient

    8. GIT Part 3: How to assess the colon of a canine or feline patient

    9. How to assess the spleen of a canine or feline patient

    10. How to assess the kidneys of a canine or feline patient

    11. How to assess the urinary bladder of a canine or feline patient

    12. How to assess the aorta and caudal vena cava (CVC) of a canine or feline patient.

    13. How to assess the adrenal glands of the canine and feline patient

    14. How to assess the pancreas of the canine and feline patient

    15. Basic Abdominal Point of Care Ultrasound (APoCUS) - Abdominal free fluid, where to find it in the canine and feline patient

    16. Abdominal Free Fluid Scoring

    17. No. 1. Guess the A-PoCUS Site

    18. No. 2. Guess the A-PoCUS Site!

    19. No. 3. Guess the A-PoCUS Site!

    20. No. 4. Guess the A- or T-PoCUS Site!

    21. No. 5. Guess the APoCUS Site!

    22. No. 6. Guess the APoCUS Site!

    23. No. 7. Guess the APoCUS Site!

    24. Answers for No. 1-7: Guess the A-PoCUS Site

    25. Module 2 – Checkpoint Quiz

    26. Copy of More resources for you!

    1. Introduction to Module 3

    2. Setting your ultrasound system up for ultrasound-guided needle procedures

    3. In-plane and out-of-plane technique for ultrasound-guided needle procedures

    4. Storing your images and documenting ultrasound-guided needle pocedures

    5. Top tips for success with ultrasound-guided needle procedures

    6. Module 3 - Checkpoint Quiz

    1. Congrats, and thats a wrap!

    2. You've completed your Aspire UCS course and have a head full of knowledge! Tell us how you feel NOW about scanning.

    3. Before you go, could we please have a little feedback on the course?

About this course

  • Free
  • 55 lessons
  • 3.5 hours of video content

12 hours of (CPD) points

Continuing professional development points

The course is made up of more than 30 seminar and practical demonstrations, detailed course notes and multiple-choice assessments. At the end of the course, you will receive a certificate for 12 hours of continuing professional CPD. Students have 180 days to complete the course, but most people work through the course in 4-6 weeks. We'll send you regular updates on your progress through the course by email to keep you motivated.

Why is this course for you?

  • Gain knowledge

    Develop essential knowledge of fundamental abdominal ultrasound and ultrasound-guided needle techniques

  • Build confidence

    Build confidence for independent practice

  • Practical learning

    Learn through theoretical and practical tuition

  • Point of care ultrasound

    Acquire the ability to undertake abdominal PoCUS examinations

  • Become competent

    Enhance competency with basic ultrasound systems

  • Build your consistency

    Build the core skills to consistently obtain diagnostic abdominal ultrasound images

Getting the most out of your ultrasound system

Learn more about your ultrasound machine, use it more effectively or get more accurate result diagnoses: take our course.

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FAQ's

Got a question?

  • How is the course structured?

    We have carefully designed the course to use a range of learning techniques to suite a range of learning styles, using video, detailed course notes, and end of module quizzes.

  • How long is the course?

    Our Key Skills in Small Animal Abdominal Ultrasound Course is made up of three modules and more than 30 individual lessons with high quality seminar videos, practical demonstrations and detailed lecture notes.

  • How long does it take to complete the course?

    Most people study at their own pace taking from 2 days to several weeks. You can up to six weeks to complete the course, we'll send you regular reminders and updates of your progress as you go through the course.

  • Can I re-watch any of the lessons after I’ve been through the course?

    Absolutely! We recommend you come back to the seminar lessons and practical demonstrations as much as you need to.

  • Can I ask question to the course instructors?

    Yes, we provide support to our students. After you register we will provide details on how to access the forum.

Meet your instructors

60+ years of collective experience providing you with the best in Ultrasound training.

Meet Angie

Angie Lloyd-Jones
Founder, Director and CEO of Aspire UCS.

Angie trained as a Diagnostic Radiographer in the late 1980s. She started her ultrasound journey in West Sussex in the early 1990s, having not long since qualified as a radiographer in Plymouth, Devon. From there she moved to Wales, on to London and then back to Wales again; with each move she left behind a trail of confident, competent ultrasound practitioners across a wide range of specialities (sonographers, doctors, midwives, nurses, aortic screeners). Angie worked in numerous NHS hospitals across the UK, helping to set up ultrasound services, working her way up to management level, becoming a clinical ultrasound tutor and part-time lecturer for numerous CASE accredited ultrasound programmes.

Several decades later she met Julie and after much persuasion, Angie finally took the plunge to leave the NHS and work with Julie as her ‘Head of Ultrasound’ for a UK wide imaging company, further enriching her business and clinical management skills. Four years on and Angie left the company to diversify into small animal ultrasound at specialist referral level.

She soon realised the considerable difficulties faced by primary care vets in particular when training in ultrasound and set upon her mission to make a difference! She is especially passionate about quality, standards and competency-based learning.

Covid-19 lockdown gave Julie and Angie the perfect opportunity to write some professional guidelines for small animal abdominal ultrasound. The British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) published 'Small Animal Veterinary Guidelines for Professional Ultrasound Practice' in December 2022 and these have been endorsed by the ECVDI and IVUSS.

Meet Julie

Julie Burnage
Director of Aspire UCS and Chief Operations Officer

Julie trained and worked as a Radiographer in North West England in the early 1980s and moved to North Wales in 1987 She started her ultrasound training in the NHS in 1988 and after qualifying went to night school to train to be a teacher so that she could share the love she had developed for ultrasound in the best possible way.

In 1995 Julie set up an ultrasound scanning company providing diagnostic scans to both NHS and self pay patients in GP surgeries and clinics. Despite the negativity from many in the imaging community who believed that non medics could not and should not be providing ultrasound services Julie continued to extol the virtues of providing ‘care closer to home’. Speaking at conferences she often faced accusations of working outside her scope of practice but nothing could be further from the truth. With time she worked with some amazing Radiologists who understood the business model and were huge advocates of what she was doing and provided support and guidance. The business grew and grew and following a merger with another provider in 2013 and subsequent ‘buy out’ by venture capitalists, in 2020, Julie was ready for another challenge.

By this time, Angie had been working in a small animal specialist hospital for some years and persuaded Julie to join Aspire UCS and work with her providing ultrasound services and teaching vets, vet nurses (as well as human medics) the joy of ultrasound.

There's nothing that Julie doesn't know about clinical standards and running a successful, high quality ultrasound service.

Meet Leslie

Leslie Flor
Our Aspire UCS USA Lead

Leslie is a registered Ultrasound/X-ray Technologist of 30 years in the human world! She graduated from Gannon University in Erie, PA with a degree in Radiology and continued with her diagnostic ultrasound training at Western School in Pittsburgh, PA.

Six years ago, Leslie took on the challenge of changing direction in her medical career after the opportunity arose to work with a great group of veterinary professionals learning veterinary ultrasound. This exciting turn of events enabled Leslie to share her extensive diagnostic medical ultrasound experience with veterinary profession, to challenge herself and learn a new skill.

Leslie's first veterinary post in 2018 was at Rossmoyne Emergency Animal Treatment Center. In December 2021 she started work at Carlisle Small Animal Center as a veterinary sonographer until January 2023 when she began working at Happy Valley Animal Hospital Boalsburg, PA as a PRN sonographer. Whilst she continues to support the Happy Valley Animal Hospital, Leslie also works part time at Atlantic Veterinary Internal Medicine & Oncology Hunt Valley, MD and Columbia as a key sonographer and clinical instructor teaching students how to preform standardised high-quality diagnostic ultrasounds which can subsequently be interpreted by veterinary imaging specialists.

Leslie is a great advocate for Aspire UCS and is also passionate about promoting ultrasound as an invaluable clinical tool in veterinary medicine. Her goal for the future is to share her knowledge and educate veterinary ultrasound practitioners on how to use ultrasound at a higher standard within in their practice.

Her all time favourite dogs are Goldens and Labradors they are such amazing breeds. Leslie currently has three Labradors and she loves hiking, kayaking and of course swimming whenever she can!!!

What our students say

“This whole course was excellent. It was clear that a lot of effort had been put into the creation of this course. All the videos were very clearly presented and well-rehearsed. I wish I had this as a resource whilst at university, and I feel a more streamlined version of this course may be very appealing for this sector (ultrasound teaching/training was non-existent for me at university).”

Andrew Crosland, Dr of Veterinary Medicine and Rotating Intern at Linnaeus Specialist Referral Hospital

“I attended the Aspire Abdominal and Thoracic POCUS Course for RVNs in 2019 . This course was perfectly designed to give an RVN fantastic skills to transfer straight into practice. This was a most informative 2-Day course with a focus on quality hands-on experience to reach a required level of clinical confidence and competency. It enabled me to help deliver a streamline service when triaging our emergency and general medicine cases and improving patient care within the hospital. It gave me confidence by giving me a clear structure to follow when scanning a patient. I feel as a nurse sometimes courses lack relevance to referral work but this has proven invaluable in my work. The support from Aspire was fantastic throughout the course!”

Annabel Kerr RVN, Deputy Team Leader For Internal Medicine

“I have known and worked with Angie for the past few years. Angie is a very skilled and knowledgeable ultrasonographer and an excellent teacher with a desire to see others succeed. Virtual Veterinary Specialists is very pleased to collaborate with Angie to deliver high quality ultrasound training to our clients.”

Nuala Summerfield BSc BVM&S MRCVS DipACVIM(Cardiology) DipECVIM-CA(Cardiology) RCVS Recognised Specialist in Veterinary Cardiology, Director, Virtual Veterinary Specialists

“It’s always a pleasure to work with Angie Lloyd Jones from Aspire. Her consistency and openness in planning and delivery means that she is very approachable. I have had the pleasure of creating live ultrasound training with Angie over many sessions and her wealth of knowledge and dedication to training shines through. Angie knows exactly how to explain difficult concepts in a clear and concise way and this helps to build confidence with those who work with her. She is great at getting the best out of people and I look forward to the next time we can work together.”

Dr Caroline Taylor BSc BVetMed PGCert (SAM) MRCVS Veterinary Demonstrator, Celtic SMR Ltd

“Aspire have been vital in helping me to establish and develop the imaging department at Wear Referrals as a solo veterinary radiologist. They assisted Wear Referrals in recruiting, interviewing and hiring a suitable permanent human sonographer and have been critical in providing high quality veterinary ultrasound training, which is both reproducible and auditable, enabling our team to perform ultrasound consistently to a high standard. Angie and Julie are fun to work with and have developed a professional working relationship with our team of veterinary clinicians, radiographers, nurses and animal care assistants.”

Ready to start your course?

Are you ready to become more confident, competent, and consistent in your ultrasound skills?

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